Ruling device.



No. 810,356. PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

D. P. SHANKWILER.

RULING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED APR.15, 190s.

P rENT OFFICE.

DONALD P. SHANKVVILER, OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA.

RULING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

Application filed April 15, 1905. Serial No. 255,724.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DONALD P. SHANK- WILER, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Bend, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ruling Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in ruling devices, and is more especially adapted for the use of bookkeepers for ruling lines on a ledger or journal or when balancing or closing up accounts.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved device of the abovementioned character that will be automatically supplied with ink and that will enable an operator to make the line perfectly straight and parallel with the margin or some other point on the page of the book without the use of a ruler.

The invention consists in the construction and combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be more fully described hereinafter and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the ruling device. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same.

Making renewed reference to the drawings, 1 designates the frame, which is preferably made of sheet metal and has depending sides 2 and end pieces 3, in which are journaled the pintles 4 of the inking-roller 5. On one end of this roller is a serrated guidewheel 6, and near the other end are the marking or ruling disks 7 and 8, the latter preferably being formed of two disks in contact with each other, so as to mark a double line.

In the frame 1 above the marking-disks 7 and 8 is a partition 9, having apertures 10, through which the disks project. This partition forms a compartment or receptacle for the ink-pads 11 and 12, the former of which snugly fits into the end of the compartment an d the latter of which is mounted on a spring-arm 13, which consists of a flat strip of metal secured at one end, as 14, to the under side of the frame and extends across the same into the pad-compartment, where it is bent back upon itself for some dis tance and then extends upwardly, as at 15, through a slot in the top of the frame and then downwardly and secured at its outer end 16 to the upper face of the frame 1. This upward extension 15 forms a flat thumb-piece for pressing the spring down and engaging the pad 12, carried thereby with the markingdisk 7, the normal tendency of the spring being to hold the pad up and disengaged from the marking-disk. In the top of the frame above the pad-compartment is an opening 17, through which ink may be supplied to the pad 11, and as it is preferable to have the pad 12 contact with the pad 11 the former will by capillary attraction be supplied with ink from the latter.

V 20 designates the handle, in which is screwed a pin 21, having a flat head 22, the shank of the pin near the head extending through an aperture in the top of the frame and also through an aperture in the washer 23, said apertures being considerably larger than the diameter of the pin, so as to permit the handle, with the pin, to be freely turned and moved slightly laterally. Interposed between this washer 23 and the bottom of the handle is a rubber or yielding block 24, which permits the handle to yield when the operator pushes on it in a direction at an angle to the vertical.

In use the operator by taking hold of the handle and drawing the device across the page will by contact of the marking-disks and the guide-wheel 6 with the sheet scribe a double line, the marking-disk 8 being fed from the pad 11. When, however, it is desired to rule another line parallel with the double line in one operation, the operator with his thumb or finger presses upon the extension 15 of the spring 13 and brings the pad 12 into contact with the marking-disk 7, and during such operations the serrated guide-Wheel 6 may be caused to follow a certain line or edge of the page, so as to insure a straight marking from the disks.

As it is one of the objects of the present invention to obviate the use of a ruler even. when long rulings are made, the handle 20 is permitted to yield, as hereinbefore pointed out, and this yielding or swaying may occur by virtue of the operator turning his hand While ruling or by pressing down at an angle to the vertical; but these operations will not interfere with a straight ruling or prevent an even pressure of the ruling-disks or markingwheel on the paper.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is- 1. In a ruling device, a frame having a roller journaled therein, a ruling-disk carried by the roller, a compartment in the frame, an inkingpad in the compartment normally held from engagement with the ruling-disk, and means accessible from the top of the frame for engaging said pad with the ruling-disk.

2. In a ruling device, a frame, a compartment in the frame, ruling-disks journaled in the frame and projecting into said compartment, inking-pads mounted in the compartment, one of which is normally held in contact with one of the ruling-disks, and a spring-arm secured to the frame and projecting above the same and adapted to be pressed to engage the other pad with the other ruling-disk.

8. In a ruling device, the combination with a frame having ruling-disks journaled therein, and inking-pads mounted in the frame above said disks, of a spring-arm secured beneath the frame and carrying one of said inking-pads and also having a portion projecting above the frame to form a thumbpiece for engaging the pad with a ruling-disk.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DONALD P. SHANKWILER,

Witnesses:

GEORGE OLTsoH, GRAoE M. COLE. 

